Safety
by Master-Magician
Summary: Lapis was being irrational again, she knew that, but she wanted… no, there was no want about this. She needed to see Steven, needed to see that he was safe and unharmed. Yes, she'd just saw him, just felt him hug her, but he was there and gone so fast that it wasn't enough to properly reassure her.


**Never wrote for this fandom before but I've only recently discovered it. I haven't seen much episodes yet, but I have watched a lot of clips and know all the major plot points. I fully intend to marathon it at some point here. But I felt like at least doing a little something for it. I might do more depending on how this goes. **

**Enjoy.**

* * *

"He should really be more careful with other people's stuff." Lapis chuckled under her breath, still hiding the bat behind her back.

All it took was one look at Peridot's scowl for Lapis to know her attempt at deflecting from her own embarrassment was a complete failure.

"Anyway, I'm just gonna… get back to… what I was doing." Lapis pointed her thumb over her shoulder as she slowly backed up away from Peridot and his 'communication device'.

Peridot didn't answer, instead going back to whatever it she was tinkering with.

Lapis returned the bat to where she'd retrieved it from but upon returning to her lounge chair, she found herself unable to get her mind off of what just happened.

There was no reason for Lapis to panic like that. Steven was still safe in his home and wasn't trapped inside some machine. It was just a video device Peridot rigged up. There was no danger, not to Steven, not to her, not to anyone.

At least, these were the sorts of things Lapis told herself over and over again. Yet, it wasn't the least bit reassuring. The mental image of Steven trapped in a machine like she was with the mirror wouldn't leave her imagination no matter how hard she tried to force it out.

Before Lapis even registered she was doing it, she'd left the barn and broke into a sprint for the warp pad leading back to the Beach House. She was vaguely aware of Peridot yelling something behind her, but Lapis didn't notice nor care.

When her own feet couldn't carry her as fast as she would have wanted, Lapis spread her water wings and took flight. The pad wasn't all that far, she could have walked to it and gotten there with little to no effort, but it was not enough! Each spent second was a second too long for her liking.

Lapis was being irrational again, she knew that, but she wanted… no, there was no want about this. She needed to see Steven, needed to see that he was safe and unharmed. Yes, she'd just saw him, just felt him hug her, but he was there and gone so fast that it wasn't enough to properly reassure her.

One flight through the warp stream, and Lapis found herself in the middle of the Beach House.

"You can stay outside!" Lapis heard Steven yelling from his room.

Lion, whom appeared to be scratching at the house's door, let out a rather pathetic whine.

"I'm not falling for that this time, Lion!" Steven yelled again while Lapis made her way toward the stairs. "I mean it! You better hope this isn't too broken!"

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Lapis was greeted with Steven's back to her working on what she assumed to be Connie's machine that Lion knocked off the table.

"Come on, come on." Steven pleaded to the device in question. "Please work? Pretty please?"

Lapis, completely unaware of how computers worked, only watched as Steve frantically tried to do what she assumed to be fixing the machine.

"No!" Steven wailed in despair, a sound that actually made Lapis cringe.

"Steven?" Lapis' hand flew to her mouth, realizing to late that she'd just spoken.

"Huh?" Steven paused in what he was doing to look over his shoulder. "Lapis?"

"Uh…" Lapis hesitated, unsure what to say. "Hi?"

"What are you doing he…" Steven turned to face Lapis properly but a strange look crossed his features when he did. Before she could even open her mouth to question him, or attempt in vain to come up with a reason explaining her presence, Steven crossed the space between them and threw his arms around her. Lapis, on pure reflex, dropped down to one knee so she could return the embrace and hold him a little more properly.

"What's wrong?" Steven asked after a moment or two, arms not relenting their hold.

"What makes you think…"

"You just look…" Steven paused. "Scared. Like really, really scared. Bit like Pearl looks when I almost get killed."

"Oh." Lapis sincerely hoped Steven didn't catch her wince at hearing the words 'I' and 'killed' in the same sentence, so closely together, and coming out of Steven's mouth.

Good thing that as a gem, Lapis didn't have those things humans had. A heartbang… no, that's not what it was called. It was a… Heartbeat! Yes, it was a good thing Lapis didn't have a heartbeat. If she did, Steven could have probably been able to hear it racing out of control.

Unfortunately, what Lapis did have, was a faint dark blue flush that was growing deeper and more vivid the longer she and Steven held each other in their arms.

"Come on." Steven's voice in Lapis' ear was the perfect thing to soothe the gem's fraying nerves. She was already relaxing and completely forgetting why she was in such a panic in the first place. "Talk to me here, Lapis."

"I was… in the neighborhood." Lapis laughed, probably the fakest laugh she'd ever uttered in her entire span of existence. "So… I decided to pop in for a visit. I mean, you came by The Barn, but left so fast."

"Lapis." Steven pulled away, not far, just enough to look her right in the eye, his arms remaining around her. He didn't say anything else, just Lapis name, only a single word and a look.

That look, paired with her name, was enough to utterly obliterate any resistance Lapis could have possibly mustered. Not like she had much to begin with.

"I was terrified." Lapis confessed, looking everywhere but directly at Steven. "I thought… you were trapped inside Peridot's machine. Trapped like I was in the mirror…"

"Lapis…"

"I couldn't think of anything else!" Lapis' gaze snapped back to Steven. "Just thinking of you, stuck in that… that nightmare like I was… I won't allow it!" As Lapis spoke, her voice grew in volume until she was nearly screaming. "I'd shatter myself, first!"

Steven said nothing at first, instead just staring at her with that tender concern he always showed those he cared about. The same one that could warm even some of the coldest hearts.

"Lapis…" Steven's thumb went to Lapis' cheek. "You're crying."

"Wha…" Lapis' own hand went to her cheek to find the boy was correct. Tears were starting to run rivers down her face and she hadn't even noticed.

Steven didn't bother trying to say anything else. Young though he was by both human and gem standards, he was wise enough to know that words were not going to do much good, here.

Steven opted instead to simply pull the gem back into his arms in a hug that was easily three times as tight as before. Not that Lapis was going to complain any time soon.

The pair were like this for quite some time, exactly how much Lapis didn't care. She was too busy savoring each and every second. But it was long enough for Lapis' tears to both stop and dry up.

"I should… probably be heading back." Lapis didn't budge.

"Yeah, and I need to see if I can fix Connie's computer." Steven agreed verbally, but much like Lapis, the boy wasn't moving.

Several more moments passed.

"Nope." Steven shrugged ever so slightly. "I'm thinking that's going to be a hard pass."

"But what about…"

"It's just a computer." Steven waved a dismissive hand at Connie's computer. "I feel bad, yeah, but it's just a thing. You're a person, and I care about you, so you're more important."

Lapis' blush, would had only just started going away, came roaring back with even greater intensity. Thankfully, Steven didn't comment on it.

"So, what were your plans for today, Lapis?"

"Hmm…" Lapis thought back to what she originally was going to do for the day but she couldn't remember what it was. She was reading a magazine, but Lapis couldn't even remember what was in said magazine, let alone whatever else she was going to do.

"Nothing?"

"Nope." Lapis finally admitted.

"Well come on, then." Steven bounded away with that excited energy he always seemed to have. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"To go have some fun!" Steven clapped his hands together, grinning that goofy smile Lapis enjoyed way more than she let on. "What do you say? Beach summer fun buddies?"

Beach summer fun buddies. That silly nickname for them that Steven came up with when they first met. Somehow, hearing it made Lapis lips raise in a smile that was nearly as big as Steven's. If such a thing were even possible.

When Steven held his hand out for her, Lapis didn't even hesitate before taking it in her own.

"Beach summer fun buddies."

* * *

"Whoo…" Amethyst dramatically threw herself onto the floor the moment she stepped off the warp pad. "Good to be back!"

"Awful dark in here." Pearl stepped over the purple gem so as to not trip over her. All the lights in the house were off and the place was quiet save for what sounded like the television in Steven's room. It wasn't his customary bedtime yet but it was a little odd he wasn't there to greet them as usual.

Steven was probably too engrossed in some show or one of his games. Regardless, Pearl fully intended to check on him at first opportunity.

"It is nighttime, after all." Garnet adjusted the bubbled gem beneath her arm before leaving to deal with it. "Good night."

"Night, garnet!" Amethyst waved the taller gem off before lazily standing back up. "Guess I'm turning in, too. See ya, Pearl."

Pearl wished her fellow Crystal Gems a good night before silently trekking up the stairs to Steven's room. On the off chance he'd fallen asleep, she didn't want to risk waking him when it was unnecessary.

Steven was indeed in his room, and was fast asleep exactly as Pearl though, but he wasn't alone.

To Pearl's total surprise, sitting next to Steven every bit as asleep as the boy, was one Lapis Lazuli. Much to Pearl's chagrin, the pair weren't even on the comfort of the mattress. They were seated instead on the floor with their backs to the mattress itself.

Judging by the still playing television in front of them, they'd obviously fallen asleep watching something.

Even stranger, their poses were oddly… intimate. Both sat hip to hip but with their arms around the other, and one of Steven's legs over top of Lapis', the taller gems cheek resting on a bed of Steven's hair.

For the briefest of moments, Pearl contemplated waking the pair. The floor was an awful place to sleep on, especially for a human, but Steven looked so peaceful and at ease. Certainly more so than Pearl had seen him in quite a long time.

As for Lapis, she'd never seen the blue gem relaxed whatsoever. It was no secret Lapis held more than a little animosity for the Crystal Gems. That she managed to fall asleep here, of all places, spoke volumes on what Steven's presence did for her peace of mind.

It did occur to Pearl that she didn't entirely trust Lapis with anything, but Steven did. Not only that, if there was a single thing Pearl could trust about Lapis, it was Steven's safety. The only people who might be more protective of the boy than her was Greg and the three Crystal Gems who lived with him.

Against a few of Pearl's more rational instincts, she decided to leave the two to their slumber. But not before she retrieved a large enough blanket and, with a featherlight touch only Pearl possessed, draped it over the sleepers. It was a bit of a chilly night, and she didn't want Steven to catch some human pathogen because he forgot a covering.

Once Pearl was finished, Lapis stirred slightly, to Pearl's displeasure. The blue gem didn't wake, though. Merely pulled Steven closer to her with a faint smile crossing her lips. The boy, in response, snuggled closer into his companions' arms.

Once she was sure they were not going to wake, Pearl tiptoed away but stopped at the top of the stairs. She gave one last look at the duo, lips raising and a fond look crossing her features.

"Sweet dreams, you two." Pearl descended the stairs, and left the boy and gem to their night.

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**As I said, I might do some more once I get time but I wanted to at least do something to get a start in it. **


End file.
